Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 63 of 67

64 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
BRUSSELS VIEW by PETER GUTIERREZ
EGNOS signals and frequencies at the
European Commission.
In fact, the Munich SatNav Summit,
which draws heav y weight speakers
from the GNSS community across the
globe, featured multiple sessions fo-
cusing on unmanned and autonomous
systems. Suffice it to say everyone in-
volved in navigation is eyeing drones,
driverless cars, and other unmanned
systems as a huge emerging market
for precise point posi-
tioning (PPP) and as a
stimulus to increase the
attention paid to ques-
tions of reliability and
security.
Right now though,
e ven a s u n m a n ne d
markets move forward
by leaps and bounds,
there remains a lack
o f u n i f i e d o p e r a t -
ing rules, even within
the European Union,
where individual coun-
tries continue to forge
their own regulator y
paths.
Back to Hayes: "I'm
from the European Commission," he
said, "and we're all about regulation.
So, stepping back to 2008, we have the
first regulation on UAVs that basically
said Member States are responsible for
UAS, drones, below 150 kilograms."
Ten years later, this is still the only
EU guidance in place. "So potentially
that leaves space below 150 kilograms
where there could be fragmentation
between different member states,"
Hayes said.
Back in Nuremberg, at the all-drone
U.T.SEC event, Airbus' Rappsilber told
us, "In Europe we have to apply to the
relevant authorities in each country
where we want to operate. We do have
some help with that in Germany, with
organizations like UAV Dach [German
Association for Unmanned Aviation],
where they will send out an expert to
look at your system and give you advice
about permissions. But it would defi-
nitely be better if there were one set of
rules for everyone."
"So there is a new regulation being
drafted," Hayes said.
"It's aim is to unify the
regulatory framework
for UA S operations,
and it will include those
below 150 kilograms."
Haye s w a s t a l k i ng
about the EU Remotely
P i l o t e d A i r c r a f t
Systems (RPAS) regu-
lation, which we have
reported on in the past,
put together by the
European Commission
a nd t he E u r op e a n
Aviation Safety Agency
(EASA).
"The draft I've seen
seems quite advanced,"
said Hayes, "and I expect it to be in
place this year." Just what 'in place'
means is another sticky question. He
told us later, "Yes, that means that it's
then up to the Member States to imple-
ment it. But I do think this is one that
they would want to implement."
While the EU RPAS regulation has
been simmering, the EU SESAR ini-
tiative (Single European Sky ATM
Research) has been busy drafting
its own U-Space concept, meant to
unify Europe's entire airspace under
a single regulatory framework. Hayes
said, "U-space comes in four phases.
"AS FAR AS I KNOW THE [EU RPAS]
REGULATION WILL COME. BUT WE
ARE NOT SO SURE ABOUT WHEN
EXACTLY IT WOULD START IN
GERMANY. NOT BEFORE 2025-
2030, IN ANY CASE, BECAUSE EVEN
IF THE UNION ACCEPTS IT, PASSES
IT, THEN GERMANY STILL HAS TO
DECIDE FOR ITSELF."
Julia Gonschorek, project manager
and research fellow at the European
Aviation Security Center (EASC).